Saint Benedict–Joseph Labre
“I have forsaken my home, I have cast off mine inheritance: I am poor and needy, but the Lord hath taken me up” (Jer 12:7)....
Plagas, sicut Thomas, non intueor
Here at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, I have the privilege of living just a few steps away from the Chapel of the Sacred Relics where...
O Blessed Wound!
On the occasion of the Holy Father’s 80th birthday and in response to his invitation to contemplate the wounded Side of Christ, I offer again...
Quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius
Haec est dies quam fecit Dominus “This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it!” (Ps 117:24). For...
Mane Nobiscum, Domine
Jacopo Pontormo painted this Supper at Emmaus for the Carthusian monastery of Galluzzo sometime between 1523 and 1527. He includes Carthusian monks in the scene,...
More Photos of Pasquetta 2007 in Sepiccciano
The 17th century Palazzo Onoratelli was the home of my great–grandmother Emma Onoratelli Barbato. The stucco ornamentation in the baroque style — with smiling angels...
Pranzo at Sepicciano: Pasquetta
My cousin Carlo de Lellis and his wife Nora invited me to the Onoratelli ancestral home in Sepicciano for the second day of Pasquetta, the...
Et tu aperuisti lancea latus meum
Friday of the Passion of the Lord Isaiah 52:13-53:12 Psalm 30 Hebrews 4:14-5:9 John 18:1-19:42 Last night He sat with us at table. His Face...
A Good Friday Martyr
On 21 November 1951, in Kiev, Father Ivan Ziatyk, C.SS.R. was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for “cooperating with anti-Soviet nationalistic organization and anti-Soviet propaganda”....
Maundy Thursday Night in Rome
The Most Blessed Sacrament was carried in procession through the basilica to the haunting strains of the Pange lingua. The chapel of reposition — the...
Illuminet Vultum Tuum Super Nos
Missa Vespertina in Cena Domini We came in singing a humble song: “For us, no boasting” (Gal 6:14). No boasting, that is, of anything that...
Mother of God, Portress of the Holy Mysteries
Wednesday of Holy Week Isaiah 50:4-9 Psalm 68: 8-10, 21bcd-22, 31 & 33-34 (R. 14C & b) Matthew 26:14-25 At Saint Mary Major Today’s Roman...
Sacramentum Caritatis: Eucharistic Stupefaction
This Wondrous Sacrament Sacramentum Caritatis calls the Most Holy Eucharist “this wondrous sacrament.” It goes on to speak of the amazement — the stupefaction —...
The Eucharist: Salvation, Life, and Resurrection
Tuesday of Holy Week Isaiah 49:1–6 Psalm 34:13, 1–2 John 13:21–33, 36–38 Go and Prepare the Passover for Us Sunday’s solemn chant of the Passion...
Open Thy Sacred Heart and Let Me In
Ah, awful Face of Love, bruised by my hand, Turn to me, pierce me with Thine eyes of flame, And give, me deeper knowledge of...
Sacramentum Caritatis: The Friendship of Christ
Reflections on Sacramentum Caritatis With the approach of Maundy Thursday — the solemn commemoration of the institution of the Most Holy Eucharist and of the...
Spes Mea
Monday of Holy Week Isaiah 42:1-7 Psalm 26:1, 2, 3, 13-14 (R. v. 1a) John12:1-11 But After I Shall Be Risen The bright eighth mode...
Benedict XVI: The Face of God and the Cross of Christ
Yesterday, in his Palm Sunday homily, Pope Benedict XVI returned to what has become a leitmotif in his preaching: the Face of God. The Holy...
Into the Harbour of the Sacred Passion
A Word Out of Silence The chant of the Passion plunges us into silence. The Word has been silenced. Only a fool would dare to...
In Voluntate Tua
Guercino’s (1591–1666) Crowning With Thorns depicts two attitudes toward the Suffering Christ. On the one hand we see a soldier clad in armour. With a...